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On-Track Events

Off-track Entertainment

The 2015 Formula 1® Rolex Australian Grand Prix showcased a world of off-track entertainment with an array of activities to suit fans of all ages. The entertainment schedule featured some old favourites and some fabulous new off-track diversions.

Four-day Grandstand

Four-corner Grandstands

The four-corner Grandstand ticket option provides an opportunity to experience four different grandstand locations across the four days of the event. Watch the action from unique vantage points in a different Grandstand each day.

Who got Fastest Lap?

Hamilton • Mercedes • 1:35.176 = 218.239 on lap 26

Race Highlights

An action-packed race set up for drama by changeable weather in Saturday’s qualifying session produced a major first lap crash, superb drives from the back half of the grid by Valtteri Bottas and Fernando Alonso and a measured return to winning ways for Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton started sixth after pulling into the pits on his final qualifying lap, mistakenly believing the track was slower than it was after rain, and gifting pole to Mercedes team-mate and championship leader Nico Rosberg.

A major shunt on lap one, when Kimi Raikkonen lost control of his Ferrari and collected Felipe Massa as he spun across the circuit, saw both men eliminated. Neither was injured, but the Finn required x-rays on his right ankle. It was a sad end to Massa’s brief 200th Grand Prix.

Hamilton was fourth at the time the accident led to the race being red-flagged and stopped for an hour (*) to allow repairs to be made to the crash barriers. This resulted in the extended duration of the race in the result sheets.

On the re-start, Hamilton surged through to second and tracked Rosberg until lap 29 when his gearbox failed. It was the Finn’s first did not finish of the year, compared to Hamilton’s two. Hamilton took control and pulled out a comfortable lead to the flag.

Bottas started 16th and proved the huge potential of his Williams Mercedes again as he sliced through the field, making up for the disappointment of Massa as the team rose to fourth in the constructors’ championship.

Ricciardo once again showed his huge merit and worth as a successor to Mark Webber alongside defending champion Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull. After qualifying eighth, he produced a measured drive to the podium where he described his third place finish as ‘the best third place’ of my life.

Vettel, who started second, made a poor start before the first lap crash and never recovered. He fought long and hard with Alonso over fifth place and the pair swapped several extraordinary claims and counter-claims on team radio, about each other’s driving and moves. “He doesn’t give you much room,” complained Vettel afterwards.

Drive of the Day

It might have been Hamilton if he had some real opposition in the shape of Mercedes team-mate Rosberg, but with the championship leader out of the contest, it was too easy for the 2008 champion to take advantage and trim his championship lead from 29 points to four.

So, instead, it belongs to Bottas, the 24-year-old Finn with a cool head and talent to match, who guided his Williams through the field to claim his best result in F1 and spark a party at the team motorhome after the race. He was 30 seconds adrift of Hamilton at the end, but very comfortably ahead of Ricciardo, proof if needed of not only the speed of this year’s underrated Williams but also the potential of this quiet Finn. “I have to pinch myself to believe this is happening,” said the team’s deputy team principal Claire Williams.

Who’s leading?

Quote of the weekend

After three races without a win during which Nico Rosberg had pulled out a 29 points lead, Lewis Hamilton chose a novel recipe for success over the weekend. Instead of staying with his team or some rival drivers in a nearby hotel or circuit campsite, he chose to go back to his father’s house and relax with his family. “It was really great to eat some home-cooked food and helped me stay so relaxed and grounded when I needed it,” he said. “I saw my sister and played with the dogs and all that gave me positive energy.” Hamilton, of course, had the advantage of being able to fly in to the circuit each day by helicopter.

AGPC Information

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